Chapter 33

Congratulations! You're now part of this great Empire." He said. The stony face cracked a little to reveal a hint of a smile for the first time since that morning.

"On behalf of the CEO of this great Empire whom you both will be working for, I welcome you on board..."

"Thank you, sir!" Samantha and the boy who had earlier introduced himself as Ted Morrison chorused in reply to the assistant, who nodded back in return before continuing.

"We gave you this job because we believe you will be a terrific asset to our team, and we look forward to your input!...

Mr. Morrison, even though you will be working with the Human Resources Department, you will be reporting directly to the CEO. I will take you through what exactly is expected of you in a private meeting later...

And Miss Da-Silva, you and I both are working directly with the CEO. I know you're still a student but still, we need you to start as soon as possible. We'll discuss how we would work around your schedule later."

"Alright, thank you, sir" Samantha replied with a smile. A boss that was willing to work around her schedule!? This is great!

"So how do you both feel right now?" Paul asked them both while looking towards Samantha

"Amazing! I'm very happy sir, thank you very much for this opportunity given to me." Samantha replied with a huge smile on her face. If I was alone right now, I would probably be shouting for joy, but I'm sure that won't be tolerated here she looked around and they all laughed.

"I came here for an internship interview and I got a job instead!?... It-it felt... Surreal! So unbelievable. I'm just so happy right now and I promise to work hard. I promise you won't regret giving me this opportunity sir."

Paul nodded in response and smiled at her. His phone rang just then, intrupting their meeting.

"Please excuse me, he said to the interns seated before him before he answered the call.

[Okay, I'll be right there.] He said to the person on the other side of the phone after some seconds before he looked towards the interns again

"I need to step out for some minutes. Please excuse me, I'll be right back"

~••~

After the call with his secretary ended, Leo got up from behind his desk and started putting back the files he swept to the floor in anger. A few seconds after, his intercom buzzed again.

[Yes] he answered, his voice was calmer this time.

[Mr. Paul is here sir]

[Okay] he simply replied as he picked the last file from the floor and placed it back on his desk.

"Sir, you called for me?" His assistant Paul said as he walked towards Leo

"Yes Paul, please sit." Leo indicated towards a chair and leaned back in his own executive leather chair.

"I was wondering about the staffs that were framed and punished unjustly... Is it possible for us to let them have their jobs back?"

"I'm afraid no sir!..." His assistant replied while shaking his head with regret. "These people were dismissed with strong evidence brought against them and the evidence we were able to find is not strong enough to prove their innocence"

"But I am the CEO! I know what is right for my Empire..."

"All due respect sir. You're still an interim CEO. Bringing people who were already dismissed for gross misconduct of funds back into the organization, during this critical period is not advisable.

A charge might be leveled against you for going against the shareholders' interest at the next board meeting which might lead them to vote against you as the next Chief Executive Officer of Salvadorian Empire.

Since we're yet to find out who is behind this. Whatever decision we want to take, will have to wait till after the board meeting. Investigation is still ongoing, who knows what we would uncover by then."

"Okay great! Please reach out to these people and send them my apologies. Tell them all remunerations would be fully paid after a proper investigation that proves their innocence... And send them some little something in the meantime to keep body and soul together."

"Alright sir"

"So what about the interns?... How's their interview going?" Leo asked his PA when they were done discussing the reason why he called him into his office.

"They've all been assigned to their various departments, and the two that would be working directly with us are waiting in the conference room.

"Okay, tell me about them... What do they major in?"

"Mr. Ted Morrison is twenty-five years old. Bachelor of Science in Human Resources Management. Top of his class, from Columbia State University, New York. I picked him for us because I felt we need somebody inside the HR department..."

"Yeah, we sure do... Please go on"

"The second person is Miss Samantha-Rose Da-Silva..."

"Da-Silva?..." Leo asked wonderingly? "The same Da-Silva of Silver Corporation or it is just a similarity in surname.?"

"Yeah, it is the same Da-Silva..."

"Why did she want to intern at the Salvadorian Empire? Why not with Silver Corporation, her family's company?" Leo asked with a frown on his face.

"I asked her exactly that and she gave enough reason that I couldn't find fault with...

'Learning under her brother who is the CEO of their Silver Corporation might not give her the real-life experience she needs to grow personally, test her skills and build her resume'... Her words, not mine."

"Oh! She's the daughter of the Silver Corporation chairman? I thought she was just a family member."

"Yes, she's the second daughter and last child of the family... In fact, she was eager to sign whatever confidentiality agreement I placed before her to prove she was here to learn and nothing else."

"You made her sign a confidentiality agreement? She was just an intern, was that necessary?"

"I was actually thinking about it since I wanted to offer her a real job because of her impressive resume. It just happened that she suggested it first just to prove she was sincere."

"Impressive resume huh?..." Leo asked with surprise. "That's a new one on me since I knew you to be somebody who hardly gets impressed by anything"

"Her resume was very impressive even though she's still an undergraduate of..."

"Wait, hold it!..." Leo interrupted Paul mid-sentence.

"An undergraduate!?..." He asked with a mocking expression on his face. "Are you kidding me right now? I thought you said her resume was impressive? I don't want no wet behind the ears kid on my team"

Hearing what Leo said, PA Paul laughed. "Wet behind the ears?" The PA repeated what Leo said with a serious look on his face before laughing again

"Boss she's only got about two months left to get her university degree but despite that, that girl is very far from lacking experience I tell you because she's already a chartered accountant."

"Huh!?..." Leo asked with confusion. "How could she be a chartered accountant while still an undergraduate?"

"Unbelievable right? PA Paul asked and laughed at the surprised look on his boss's face

.

"Yeah, but how come?"

"She's a genius boss... This girl has gotten all the professional certificates in accounting and finance that I can think of and some abroad... ICAN, ACA, ANAN, ACCA CIMA... Just name it.

I practically came to blows with the Chief Financial Officer over her, because he wanted her directly in the accounting department under him...

"We gave her the data breach file to see how far she would go in trying to solve the problem. It took her three hours ten minutes to identify the issues that took the whole of the accounting department five days to solve. She even suggested a much better solution to curtail the problem"

"Really!?" Leo asked in amazement. "But how...? How could she achieve all these while still in school? How old is she exactly?" He found it hard to believe that an undergraduate could achieve so much at such a young age.

"She's twenty years old... We really need her on the team sir."

"I would love that too but I just can't believe that her family would allow her work outside their own organization, knowing how brilliant she is"

"I understood your fear boss but I have good feelings about this... You know my intuition is always right. Aside from that, she already signed a non-disclosure agreement which will keep her from disclosing or profiting from any proprietary information related to company operations.

Maybe if you see her and question her yourself... The two of them are waiting for you at the conference room right now."

"I sure want to talk to them too, her especially. Not to question your decision though. If you're satisfied with her, I am too... What I need right now is a very long power nap, a shower, and a change of clothes as I'm beats. Can they wait around for another hour?" Leo asked

"I'm sure they would. I'll inform them right away."

The assistant was like an uncle to him. Leo knew the only person his grandfather trusted the most after him was Paul. Which made Leo trust him too.